Figuring out the order to do things

I’m pretty good at picturing this stuff but I need somewhere to start and the more info I have the better the answer.

Do the old and new domains need to be secret? Sometimes there are migration opportunities to really lessen the burden. If I know the platform(s) or even better if I can see the sites involved it might help.

But if you need to create the pages anew then you best be is to get an idea of what you need to create and a plan for implementing those pages.

Other times a temporary site might be an advantage. You might create everything needed there. Move the domain name there next and then merge in the ‘blog’ to finalize things.

You might also want to create things in a ‘sandbox’ system then migrate the whole mess on ‘moving day’.

Depending on how complicated things appear you might want a web developer or an expert in the single platform you are heading toward ready to jump in and help.

Without knowing what you are looking at I’d recommend creating everything you need over on the blog site as unpublished… on moving day you’ll move the domain name to the blog, and then jump into the new pages bringing those live one after the other.

You might want a second machine like a laptop to check the new pages as you bring those live and a second pair of hands or eyes might really help.

Having your web host contact info available right upfront might be a good idea and be ready to apologize to your visitors if things go awry.

Let us know if we can help you further.

Thanks so much for your quick response. Here are the two sites that are current:

BLOG: https://www.dwmnewsonline.com (created using WordPress, hosted by GoDaddy)
WEBSITE: https://www.divewithmartin.com (custom created, hosted by GoDaddy)

Ultimately, I would like to end up with a new company website (created with WP) with the domain name of divewithmartin.com. The blog would be incorporated into this.

I want to keep the current website up and running until I have the new one developed. I have about a month to do that. I have a good idea of the structure and content of the website. It’s just a matter of building it.

Does this seem like my best option?

“Without knowing what you are looking at I’d recommend creating everything you need over on the blog site as unpublished… on moving day you’ll move the domain name to the blog, and then jump into the new pages bringing those live one after the other.”

Or should I create a wholly separate WP website and then migrate the blog over to it after the domain has been acquired?

Kind regards, Paddi

Hi @paddid ,

Welcome to web development.

I’d use development or staging environment. It looks like GoDaddy offers staging envs. That’s the good news.

https://id.godaddy.com/help/create-a-staging-site-16466

You can even go with a local dev environment like https://localbyflywheel.com/.

But, that’s just the beginning of all the fun. You’ll need to decide which site you will your as your development baseline. Or, you might need to start clean, then migrate your Blog contents over. That means theme shopping time–finding a good theme that will support the requirements of your company’s original site and your blog site (functionality, look & feel, speed performance, responsive web design, security, stability, and technical support).

Once you have your staging site up & running, you’ll need to be mindful of any changes being done on the two live productions sites that may need to be carried over to your staging site.

Then, when you are ready to release your staging to production (live), you need make sure your backup/migration strategy/process is solid. Then test test test. I’d recommend automated testing tools like Ghost Inspector or Selenium.

Happy coding!